Житие преподобных Ксенофонта и Марии и сыновей их Иоанна и Аркадия

Saint Xenophon was one of the most noble dignitaries in Constantinople. He was rich in worldly blessings, but even richer in inner treasures: faith, piety and diligent observance of all the commandments of God. Being noble in his rank and noble origin, he was even more noble in his piety and virtuous life. As high as he was in his honors, he was just as humble in mind; he did not exalt himself over people in his heart and was not proud of his temporary worldly glory. He stored up treasures for himself in heaven, sending his riches there with the hands of the poor. He had a lifelong friend named Maria, who imitated him in all good deeds and was identical in character with him in everything. Xenophon lived with her virtuously, pleased God, fulfilling all the commandments immaculately and observing the truth of God. When their two sons were born, John and Arkady, they raised them with good instructions and taught them not only book wisdom, but also the fear of God, which is the beginning of all wisdom, and also taught them all virtue. They wanted to see in their children not only the heirs of their rich estates, but mainly imitators of their godly life. They sent them to study Hellenic wisdom in the Phoenician city of Beritus 1002, famous at that time for its schools. When they lived there for some time for the sake of teaching, Xenophon became very ill and was already expecting death. Maria, not hoping for her husband’s recovery, wrote to her sons in Berit about her father’s serious illness and asked them to return home as soon as possible, before their father passed away into eternity. She wanted the children to receive the last blessing from their father and take part in his burial. They hurried to return home. The father, seeing them, rejoiced, and his illness weakened from joy. He ordered them to sit by his bed and began to teach them this way: “It seems to me, my children, that I am approaching the end of my life; But if you love me, your father, do what I command you. First, fear God and organize your life according to His holy commandments. Then, what I will tell you next, I will say not out of vanity, but with the goal of guiding you on the path of virtue: if you have my life as a model for yourself, then I think you will not need another teacher, for home teaching, expressed in word and deed, is much more useful than any other teaching. Know that I have lived to this day, maintaining constant reverence and simplicity of heart. I was respected and loved by everyone not for my high rank, but for my meekness and good disposition: I did not offend anyone or anything, I never reproached anyone, I did not slander, I did not envy, I was not angry in vain, I was not at enmity with anyone. I loved everyone and lived in peace with everyone; I did not shy away from visiting the Church of God either in the evening or in the morning; I did not despise the beggar, the stranger, or the saddened, but I consoled everyone in word and deed; often visited those in prison, ransomed many captives and set them free. Just as I set a barrier for my lips, so as not to say anything bad and evil, in the same way I laid a covenant for my eyes - so as not to look at the beauty of others and not to lust for it. God protected me, and I did not know any other wife except your mother, but with her I also lived in carnal union until you were born, and then we agreed to remain alien to each other in the flesh and have maintained bodily purity in the Lord until now. Follow, children, the lives of your parents, imitate our faith, patience and meekness, and live in such a way as to please God; then God will give you long life. Give alms to the poor, protect widows and orphans, visit the sick and those in prison, deliver the offended and wrongly condemned from disasters, keep peace with everyone. Be faithful to your friends, do good to your enemies, without repaying them evil for evil; towards everyone, be kind, meek, courteous, humble. Maintain spiritual and physical purity in integrity, and if God blesses you with marriage, then may your bed not be filthy. Do good to the churches of God and monasteries; Honor priests and monks, for for their sake God shows mercy to the whole world. Especially do not forget those who wander for God’s sake in deserts, in mountains, in dens and abysses of the earth, but give them what they need for life. Feed the poor enough and you will not become poor. You know that my house never became poor, despite the frequent meals offered to the poor. Pray often and listen to the teachings of holy men. Give your mother due honor and listen to her with the fear of the Lord, always doing her will and never deviating from her commands. Be merciful to slaves, loving them as family members and your children; release the elderly and give them food and everything they need until their death. In short, I repeat to you: what you saw me doing, do the same yourself, and you will be worthy of the honor and glory of the saints. Always remember that this world will soon pass away and its glory will disappear. Children, keep the commandments of the Lord and my instructions, and may the God of peace be with you! Listening to this speech, John and Arkady cried and said: “Don’t leave us, father, but pray to God that he will give you some more time to live with us.” We believe that you will ask God if you want: God will listen to you. For us young people, your life here is very necessary, so that you can perfectly instruct us in good deeds and arrange our lives as they should. The father sighed heavily and, tearing up, said: - Since God visited me with this illness and I lay down on my bed, I have prayed and pray to God a lot that He, for the sake of your youth, would grant me a little more time to live on earth until I see you perfect in everything. The very next night, Saint Xenophon had a revelation in a dream vision that God commanded him to remain in this life. He announced this to his wife and children, and they all rejoiced and praised God. The patient began to recover little by little from his illness. He told his sons: “Children, go and finish your studies, and upon completion, return immediately: I will arrange your legal marriage.” Then he put them on a ship and, having provided them with everything they needed, sent them back to Berit. When they set out by sea, the voyage was favorable at first, as the wind was favorable. But then a contrary wind suddenly arose, and an unexpected storm and strong excitement arose on the sea. The shipmen soon abandoned the helm, and the ship was carried by the storm to an unknown destination, sinking deeper and deeper into the waves. Everyone on the ship despaired of saving their lives and, under the influence of disaster and fear of death, wept bitterly. Both brothers, John and Arkady, also cried, offering prayers to God. “The Most Good Lord and Provider of every creature! - they prayed. - Do not despise Your creation, remember the good deeds of our parents and for their sake do not leave us: do not let us die prematurely in the young years of our blooming youth. May the storm of water spare us and may the depths of the sea not swallow us up. Remember Your mercies and bounties, look down from the height of Your holy glory and look at our misfortune. Hear our groaning and our cries! With a contrite heart and a humble spirit, we pray to You: extend Your all-powerful right hand to us and deliver us from mortal destruction; do not put us to death for Your name's sake, but deal with us according to Your mercy and according to the abundance of Your mercy. Deliver us from drowning for the sake of Your glory, for it is not the dead who will praise You, nor those who go down to hell (cf. Ps. 113:25), but we who are alive will glorify Your majestic name.” The shipmen, seeing that the strong seas did not stop, but that even greater ones were coming, so that it was no longer possible for the ship to escape from sinking, as if wanting to help the distressed ship, got into a small vessel, specially constructed, covered on top and safe from diving, and then hastened to move away from the ship, sailing to where the waves carried. They hoped that the waves would throw them ashore somewhere. The young men, John and Arkady, remaining on the ship with their slaves, saw both the flight of the shipmen and the inevitable death of the ship, since the latter was already breaking and, filling with water, sank in the waves. They completely despaired of saving their lives and took off their clothes for greater convenience in swimming, so as not to immediately plunge and die in the abyss. Expecting final separation and death, they cried out with tears and tender voices to their parents, who remained far away in the house, imagining them as if they were here. “We wish you,” they said, “good health, dear father!” Be healthy too, dearest mother! You will not see us again, nor will we see you; We will no longer enjoy earthly blessings with you at home. Then they began to say to each other: - Woe to us, beloved brother! Woe, the light of my eyes! Oh how hard it is to be separated! Where are the parents' prayers now? Where are their benefits to the poor? Where is their alms given to monks and the respect shown to them? Did not one of their prayers for us reach God, or, if they did, still turned out to be powerless, since it was exceeded by the multitude of our sins, for which we are no longer worthy to live? Woe to us, who recently cried over the expected death of our father, and now have to be the culprits of the inconsolable crying and endless sobbing of our parents! O father! You, who diligently care about our upbringing and the improvement of our lives, will not even see us dead. O mother, who hoped to see the marriage of your sons and prepared beautiful chambers ahead of time! You will not even see the graves of your children. Truly, it is hard for parents to see their dying children and bury them - and for you, our dear parents, how much more difficult will the suffering be when you lose your children, when you have not seen their death, and cannot even receive news of their unexpected and bitter death! You hoped that we would bury you at a ripe old age, but now we are not worthy to be buried by your hands. Then they hugged and, saying goodbye, said to each other: - Save yourself, brother, and forgive me! At the same time, they once again cried out to God: - O King and Lord of all! What kind of death You allowed us! If, according to Your ineffable destinies, it is impossible for us to get rid of her, then at least do not separate us who are dying. Let one wave cover us and let one womb of the sea beast be our grave! They also addressed their servants: - Save yourself, good brothers and friends, and forgive us. When the ship finally crashed, each of them grabbed the first board he came across, and thus they were carried away by the waves in different directions from each other. But, by the grace of God, everyone was saved from drowning and death, and was only carried in different directions: the slaves were thrown out by waves onto land in Tire 1003, John was thrown to one place called Malmephetan 1004, and Arcadius - in Tetrapyrgia 1005. Each of them, knowing nothing about deliverance from the death of his brother, did not so much rejoice over his own life as grieve over the death of his brother. Coming onto land, John reasoned with himself like this: “Where will I go now? I am ashamed to appear naked in front of people. I’d rather go to a monastery where reverent monks live, and there I’ll serve God, who saved me from death, in poverty and humility better than in the riches of this world. I think that God did not listen to us who prayed to Him on the ship because our parents wanted to marry us and leave us riches and great acquisitions. We would perish in the vanity of this world rather than at sea. The All-Seeing God, arranging a better life for us, allowed such a disaster for us, and as He pleased, so it happened. He, the Good One, knows everything that is for our benefit, but we know nothing that is going to happen to us. He knows everything and does as He wants, preparing salvation for everyone’s soul.” Then, raising his hands to God, he prayed thus: “My Lord, Lord, who saved me from the waves of the sea and death! Save also Your servant, my brother Arkady. Deliver him from bitter death, as you delivered me by Your mercy; and if You kept him alive and brought him to dry land, then open his mind, so that he may contemplate and desire the monastic life, and grant him the ability to please You. Save also the servants who were with us, so that not one of them perishes at sea, but through the salvation of all of them may Your most holy name be glorified!” Walking along the shore, he continued to pray: “Lord Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten Son of God! Descend to the prayer of Your servant and direct my steps to the fulfillment of Your commandments, instruct me according to Your holy will, for You know, Master, that I have no other helper but You at this hour.” Having walked a considerable distance, he found the monastery and knocked on the gate. The gatekeeper opened the door and saw him naked. He took off his outer clothing, let him dress and, leading him into his cell, offered him bread and juice. When they got up from the meal, the monk gatekeeper asked: “I am a wanderer,” my lord, “and a wretched man who escaped death at sea.” When the ship crashed and sank into the water, I grabbed the planks and was carried around by the waves. God, through your prayers, kept me alive, and I was thrown into your country. The gatekeeper of the monk, hearing this, was moved and glorified God, who saves those who trust in Him. Then he asked John: -Where do you want to go, brother? – Where God will show you. I would like to become a monk if the merciful Master, despising my sins, vouchsafed me to accept His good yoke. “Truly, child, you desire a good deed, and you will be blessed if you work for God with all your zeal.” Then John turned to him with the following request: “I beg you, father, tell me: can I stay here with you?” “Wait a little, I’ll inform our Father Superior about you.” Will he have a revelation from God about you? Then whatever he commands you, you will do, and you will be saved. The gatekeeper went to the abbot and told him in detail everything about the young man. The abbot ordered him to be brought to him and, seeing him, he understood God’s calling in his fate. Seeing his good life, he said: “Blessed be the God of your father and mother, who saved you from death at sea and brought you here!” Then, having given him detailed instructions about the saving monastic life, he made the sign of the cross over him and ordered him to remain in the monastery. Soon he tonsured John to the monastic rank of Angels. Thus, Blessed John labored in prayer and fasting and in all monastic labors, fulfilling his obediences. But he constantly grieved for his brother Arkady, thinking that he had died in the sea waves. Arkady, also, by God's will, remained alive and, coming out of the sea onto land in Tetrapyrgia, fell on his face and prayed to God like this: “Lord God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob, God of my father! I thank You for delivering me from worry and storm and from death, bringing me to a life that I no longer expected, and setting my feet on dry land. But just as You, most merciful, saved me from drowning, so save Your servant, my brother John. I pray to You, my Lord, Lord, preserve him in Your mercy, so that the waves and storms do not drown him, and the abyss does not swallow him. Hear me, Lord, for Thy mercies are great, and grant me worthy to see my brother. Remember the deeds of our father and do not bring John to the depths of the sea. Do not give the young boy a premature and accidental death. Let me see him first and then die.” While praying like this, he cried a lot and even became exhausted from crying; then, getting up, he went to a nearby village, where a lover of Christ he met gave him old clothes. He got dressed and, asking for some bread, strengthened his weak body. After that, he went to the church located there and, having once again prayed with tears for his brother, leaned against a pillar standing near the church and fell asleep. Immediately in a dream vision he saw his brother John saying to him: - Brother Arkady! Why do you cry so bitterly for me and break your heart? By the grace of Christ, I remained alive; therefore do not be sad for me. Arkady, waking up, believed that this dream was true; he was filled with great joy and thanked God. At the same time, he thought to himself: what should he do? “If I go,” he thought, “to my parents, they, not seeing my brother with me, will be sad about my return. If I go back to school and, after finishing philosophy, return to my parents, I won’t make them happy either. Seeing only me, they will begin to cry bitterly. I don't know what to do. I remember how my father always praised the monastic life, associated with silence and bringing one closer to God. So, I’ll go to a monastery and become a monk.” Having thought this way with himself, Arkady said a prayer and went to Jerusalem. Having worshiped there the holy places in which the Lord brought salvation to the world, he left the city and wanted to go to some monastery that happened along the way. Continuing to walk, he met one venerable monk, adorned with gray hair, a man of holy life and a seer. Approaching him, the young man fell at his feet, kissed them and said: – Pray to the Lord for me, holy father, since I am in great despondency and suffering. - Don't worry, child! Your brother, for whom you grieve, is just as alive as you. All the others who were with you on the ship, protected by God, were saved from death and went to monasteries for the sake of monastic life. Your brother John has already accepted his first monastic initiation. There will be a time when you will see your brother with your own eyes, for your prayer has been heard. Arkady, hearing these words of the great elder, stood amazed and marveled at the saint’s foresight, and then, again falling at his feet, began to say: “Since God did not hide from you anything that happened to me, then do not reject me,” I beg you. In whatever way you know, save my poor soul and lead me into monastic life. - May God be blessed! Follow me, my child. The elder led him to the Lavra of St. Chariton, which in Syriac was called Sukiy 1006. There he tonsured the young man a monk and gave him a cell in which one of the great fathers had previously labored for fifty years. This perspicacious old man himself spent one year with Arkady, instructing him in the rules of monastic life and teaching him to fight and resist invisible enemies. At the end of the year, the elder went into the desert, leaving Arkady alone in his cell and promising him to see him after three years. Arkady, having received instructions from the elder, zealously followed them, working for God day and night. Two years after the death of the ship, Xenophon, not knowing what happened to his children at sea, sent one of his slaves to Beritus, instructing him to find John and Arkady and find out everything about them in detail: whether they were healthy and whether they would soon finish their studies. Father and mother were greatly surprised that for such a long time the children never informed them about themselves and did not send a single letter to their parents. The slave, having arrived in Beritus and learning that the children of his master Xenophon had not come to this city, thought: had they changed their intentions and gone to Athens? So he went to Athens to look for them. Not finding them there either and not being able to collect information about them anywhere, he went back to Byzantium confused. When he was resting on the way at one hotel, some wandering monk stopped there to rest. During conversations, he said that he was going to Jerusalem to venerate the holy places. The slave Xenophon, looking closely at the monk, gradually recognized him as his former friend, one of the slaves sent by the master with the children to Berit. The slave asked the monk: - Isn’t that what you call yourself? - and, calling his name, said: “You are the slave of our master Xenophon, who went with John and Arkady to Berit.” - Indeed, it is me, and you are my comrade, since we are slaves of the same master. -What happened to you that you took on the image of a monk? Where are our gentlemen John and Arkady? Tell me, I ask you, for I spent a lot of time looking for them, and I couldn’t find them anywhere. The monk sighed heavily and, with eyes full of tears, began to tell him in detail. “You must know, friend, that our masters perished at sea, as well as everyone who was with them.” I think I was the only one saved from death. I decided it was better to hide in the monastic rank than to return home and bring terrible news to our lord and mistress and all the household. Thus, I became a monk and go to Jerusalem to worship. The slave, hearing this, began to exclaim loudly and cry bitterly. He began to scream with pity, beat his chest and said: - Oh woe is me, my gentlemen! What happened to you? What do I hear about you! How you suffered! What a bitter end has befallen you! Who will tell your father and mother about your terrible death? Whose eyes can look at a father's tears and a mother's grief! Is it possible to listen to their crying, sobbing and screams without shuddering! Alas for me, my good masters! You are dead, our hope! We hoped that you, having become heirs after your parents, would bring happiness to us slaves, shower the needy with your benefits, calm the strange, do good to the poor, decorate God's churches, give what is necessary to the monasteries - and now, oh woe to us! All our hopes are dashed. I don't know what to do. If I return home to my master, I will not dare to tell him such sad news. In fact, how can you tell your father and mother that their sons have died at sea? Hearing about this, won't they immediately fall dead, exhausted from heavy heartbreak? Therefore, I will not go home, lest, as a result of such bad news that I bring, my masters die prematurely, and I become the culprit of their death. When this slave spoke like this and cried, not wanting to return to his master Xenophon, the wanderers who happened to be there and the inhabitants of the village convinced him to stop crying and advised him to go home and tell his masters about everything so that they would not curse him. “If you do not inform the masters about their grief,” they said, “and you yourself suddenly disappear, then there will be no salvation for you.” The slave listened to their advice and returned to Constantinople. Entering his master's house, he sat down with his head bowed, his face drawn, and was silent in embarrassment. His mistress Mary, hearing that their servant, sent to the children, had returned, immediately called him to her and began to ask: “Nothing, we’re healthy,” the slave answered. The lady continued to ask: “I lost them on the way,” the slave answered. Then her heart began to be troubled, and she turned to the servant: - I conjure you by God, tell me the truth. My soul was greatly confused, and my strength left me. Then he exclaimed loudly, wept bitterly and began to tell the truth. - Woe is me, my lady! - he said. “Both your lights went out at sea: the ship crashed and everyone drowned. Oh, how courageous the lady turned out to be, beyond expectation, when she heard this news! Firmly believing in God, instead of falling to the ground from exhaustion and grief and sobbing in despair, she was silent for a while in amazement, and then said: - Blessed be God, who arranged all this! As the Lord pleased, He did so. Blessed be the name of the Lord from now on and forever! She said to the slave who brought her the news: - Be silent and don’t tell anyone about this: the Lord gave, the Lord took away; He Himself knows what is good for us. When three hours had passed and the day was approaching evening, Xenophon returned home from the royal chambers. He returned solemnly, preceded and accompanied by many. Having entered the house and dismissed the people who had come with him, he sat down to eat. He ate only once a day, and then in the evening. As he lay down to eat, his wife Maria turned to him: “Do you know, my lord, that our servant came from Berith?” Xenophon responded to this: - May God be blessed! Where is the returned slave? – Did he bring us letters from the children? - Leave it for today, sir! Now we will taste the food, and tomorrow you will see the letters. The slave has a lot to tell us about them verbally. “Let them bring the letters today and immediately.” I will read them and find out: are our children healthy? And whatever he has to say orally, let him say it tomorrow. Then Mary, unable to contain her heartfelt grief, burst into tears and could not answer anything because of her sobs. Xenophon, seeing that she was crying so much, was surprised and began to ask: -What is this, my lady Maria? Why are you crying like that? Are our children sick? She could barely say: “It would be better if they were sick, but they died at sea, our dear children.” Xenophon groaned loudly and, tearing up, said: – Blessed be the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, forever, amen! Don't worry, my lady. I believe that God will not allow our children to completely perish, and I hope that His merciful providence will not cause grief to my gray hair, just as I never dared to offend His goodness. Let us pray to His great mercy throughout this whole night, and let us hope that God will reveal to us about our children: are they alive or not? Then they immediately got up, locked themselves in the prayer room and spent the whole night in prayer, turning to God with copious tears and firm faith. When it began to get light, they lay down to rest, each separately, on sharp hair rubbles. And they both had the same dream vision. It seemed to them that they saw both of their sons standing before Christ the Lord in great glory: John had a throne prepared for him, a scepter and a royal crown, decorated with valuable beads and expensive stones; Arkady had a crown of stars, a cross in his right hand and a bright bed prepared for rest. When they got up from sleep and told each other about their vision, they realized that their sons were alive and preserved by the mercy of the Lord. They rejoiced greatly, and Xenophon said to his wife: – Maria, I think our children are in Jerusalem. Let's go there and worship the holy places. Maybe we’ll somehow find our children there too. Having consulted with each other, Xenophon and Mary prepared to set off and, having given orders to the stewards about everything concerning the house and property, distributing a lot of alms and taking with them a lot of gold, as much as was necessary for giving alms and for donations to holy places, they set off for Jerusalem. Arriving there, they walked around all the holy places, praying and giving alms. Then they began to go around all the monasteries located in the vicinity of Jerusalem, looking for their children, but they did not find them anywhere. It happened to them in one place on the way to meet one of their slaves, who was with their children on the ship, who had already become a monk. They hugged him, kissed him and bowed to the ground. The monk, in turn, bowed to them and said: “I beg you, for the sake of the Lord, do not bow to me: it is not proper for you, my masters, to bow to me, your servant, in this way.” “We honor the holy monastic image, and therefore we bow down. Don’t be sad about this, but rather tell us, we beg you, where are our sons? Tell us, for God's sake, tell us! The monk shed tears and said: - When the ship crashed at sea, we, each grabbing a board that anyone could, swam separately, carried by the storm. I don't know anything else. I don’t know whether anyone was saved from death or not. Only I was cast ashore off the coast of the Tyrian country. Having learned this, Xenophon and Maria sent the monk on his way, generously giving him alms so that he would pray for them and their children. They headed to the Jordanian countries to pray there and distribute the remaining gold. When they walked along the intended path, then, by God's providence, they met that holy elder - a seer who clothed their son Arkady in a monastic image. Falling at the feet of the holy father, they asked him to pray for themselves to God. Everything about them was revealed to the holy elder from God. Having made a prayer, he said to them: – Who brought Xenophon and Mary to Jerusalem? No one, except love for children. But you do not mourn: your children are alive, and God revealed to you in a dream the glory prepared for them in heaven. Go, cultivators of the grapes of the Lord, where you are going now, and when you have finished your prayers there, when you return to the holy city you will see your children. Having talked like this, they parted: Xenophon and Mary went to the Jordan, and the perspicacious elder went to the holy city and, having visited the Church of the Resurrection of Christ, sat down near Holy Golgotha ​​on the ground and rested. When the holy elder was sitting there, the young monk John, the son of Xenophon, who had come from the Malmefetan monastery to Jerusalem to worship, saw the holy elder and bowed to him to the ground. The elder greeted him with love and, blessing him, asked: “Where have you been before, my lord John?” Behold, your father and your mother are looking for you, and you have come looking for your brother. John was surprised that this great old man knew everything. Realizing that this was a seer, he fell at the feet of the saint and said: “I beg you, father, tell me, for the Lord’s sake, where my brother is.” My soul is greatly exhausted by the desire to see him. I struggled a lot, praying to God that He would reveal to me: is my brother alive or not? But the Lord has not deigned to reveal it to me until now, except now through you, holy father! - Sit next to me; you will see your brother soon. When they sat for a while, another monk, young Arkady, with an emaciated body and a withered face, approached. His eyes were deeply sunken from excessive fasting and abstinence. Bowing to the holy places, he soon saw an old man sitting and, running up to him, fell at his feet, saying: “Father, you left your field and have not visited it for three years now; many thorns and weeds have grown up without you, and you will have to work hard to clear them away. “Know, my child, that I visited my field every day, and I believe in the Lord that it was not thorns or weeds that grew on it, but ripe wheat, worthy of the table of the King of kings.” Sit next to me. Arkady sat down. The elder was silent for a while and then turned to John: “I, my father, am a poor man and a wanderer. For the fulfillment of only one desire of my heart, I ask the mercy of the Lord and your holy prayer. - Yes, that's true. But tell me what kind of family you are and what city is your fatherland, and also what your life is like, so that the name of the Lord may be glorified. John began to tell everything in order - that he was from Constantinople, the son of a dignitary, had a brother Arkady, with whom he was sent to Berit to study - that at sea, during a strong sea, a ship crashed and everyone drowned except him. Arkady, who listened to this story, peered carefully at the monk and finally recognized his brother in him. In the spirit of kindred love, he could no longer listen to the story being told by the monk and exclaimed: - Truly, father, this is my brother John! “I know too, but I kept silent so that you could recognize each other.” They hastily threw themselves on each other's necks, hugged and kissed each other with joy and tears, and then, getting up, glorified God, who had made them worthy to meet alive, in a holy monastic form and in such a virtuous life dedicated to God. Two days later, Xenophon and Mary arrived from the Jordan. Having prayed on Golgotha ​​and bowed to the life-giving Tomb of our Lord, they distributed a lot of gold in this holy place for the glory of God. Seeing the holy, perspicacious old man there, they recognized him and, falling at his feet, asked for prayer. After the prayer they said to the elder: “For the Lord’s sake, father, fulfill your promise and show us our children.” Both of their sons, John and Arkady, stood near the elder, but he commanded them not to say a word and not even to raise their eyes, but to look down, so as not to be recognized. The children recognized their parents and rejoiced in their hearts, but the parents could not recognize their children, partly because they were in monastic attire, and partly because the beauty of their faces had faded from prolonged abstinence. Then the holy elder said to saints Xenophon and Mary: – Go to your hotel and prepare a meal for us. I will come with my disciples and, having eaten food with you, I will tell you where your children are. The parents were very happy, since the holy father promised to show them their children, and, having gone, they quickly prepared a hearty meal. The holy elder said to his disciples: “Let’s go to where your parents are staying, but try not to say anything until I tell you.” “As you command, father, so it will be.” “We’ll share a meal and conversation with them.” This will not harm your salvation. Believe me that no matter what work you undertake for the sake of virtue, you will not reach the measure of perfection of your father and mother. Then they came to the inn that sheltered Xenophon and sat down to the meal offered to him. They ate together and talked about edifying things. After this, blessed Xenophon and Mary turned to the elder: – Holy Father, how are our children living? “They work valiantly for their salvation. – May God, who arranges the salvation of all people, grant them to be true workers of the grapes of Christ! Then Xenophon again turned to the elder: - Oh, how good, father, these students of yours are! Oh, if only our children were like that! Our soul greatly loved these young monks. As soon as we saw them, our hearts rejoiced, as if we had seen our own children. Then the elder said to Arkady: - Tell us, child, where were you born, how you were brought up, how you came here? Arkady began to talk like this: “I, father, and this brother of mine are from Byzantium, the sons of one of the highest dignitaries in the royal chambers. We were raised in piety. Our parents sent us to Berit to study Hellenic wisdom. As we were sailing, our ship was broken by waves and storms, and each of us, grabbing a plank from the broken ship, swam to where the waves carried him. By God's mercy, we survived and were thrown onto land by the sea. While he was still speaking, the parents recognized that these were their children, and immediately exclaimed: - Here they are, our children! This is the fruit of our womb! These are the luminaries of our eyes! Throwing themselves on their necks, they kissed them with love and cried with joy. The elder also shed tears. Then everyone stood up, gave glory and thanksgiving to God and rejoiced, glorifying the great and wondrous providence of God. After this, Xenophon and his friend asked the holy elder to tonsure them into the monastic rank. By the hand of a perspicacious father, Xenophon and Maria were tonsured and taught the monastic rules by him. The elder commanded them not to live together, but each separately. After a while they all separated. Mary went to a monastery of women who monastically worship, and John and Arkady, having said goodbye to their parents, went with the elder into the desert. Xenophon, having sent to Byzantium, ordered to sell his house and all his property, distributed everything to the needy, set the slaves free, and he himself, having found a cell in the desert, surrendered to silence. All of them served God to the end and received great gifts from Him: John and Arkady shone among the desert dwellers like luminaries, and, having lived for many years, they foreknew about their death and went to the Lord. The Venerable Mary performed many miracles, healed the blind, cast out demons, and after her blessed death she passed from earth to heaven. The Monk Xenophon also received from God the gift of miracles and clairvoyance: he predicted the future and was a contemplator of great mysteries, and then went away to contemplate what the human eye could not see, and to enjoy the vision of the Face of God. So the Monk Xenophon, blessed Mary and their holy children, John and Arcadius, who zealously loved God, zealously served the Lord with a righteous and godly life 1007, and were numbered among the saints by the Most Holy Lord, Christ our Savior, to whom, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, be glory, honor and worship, forever. Amen. Having escaped the sea of ​​life, the righteous Xenophon and his honest companion rejoice in heaven with their children, magnifying Christ. Berit - present-day Beirut - the ancient city of Phenicia on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea; in the 5th century it flourished and was famous for its high school of rhetoric, poetics and law; now it is the main administrative city of Asian-Turkish Syria and the most important trading point on the Syrian coast. Tire, the ancient capital of Phenicia, was located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea, north of Palestine. Malmefetan is a place in Mesopotamia. Tetrapyrgia is a city in Mesopotamia, near the river. Euphrates. Memory of Rev. Chariton is celebrated on September 28. The Suki Lavra he founded was located in Palestine, south of Bethlehem. The Monks Xenophon and Mary and their sons, John and Arkady, lived and labored in the 5th century. You might be interested in: